Hold your tongue- I dare you.

Has it already been a week? It feels like I just got here yesterday, and all in the same, it feels as though I have always been here. I am still uneasy about the idea of not having a “home” or a “job”. However, the discomfort I feel at that is nothing compared to the joys I am finding every day from even the most simple of interactions.These always seem to present themselves in the most unexpected manner…you’ll see.

Yesterday while I was working the front desk at the hostel (how does that always happen to me?) a man entered the door. Probably 60 years old, a scraggly beard, weathered face, hair that hadn’t been cut in a year, and to top it off- he was bleeding profusely from his finger! Great. I am conversational in several languages, and I tried about 3 on him with no response.

Ever the nurse, I took him to the restroom where we cleaned and bandaged his finger before returning to the lobby. Sitting in the lobby I advised him that the owner would return shortly (ha!) and help him with accommodations.

I tried my best to ignore him, since we could not converse, but he kept staring at me. I broke down and asked him where he was from, and he finally responded to me- by opening and closing his mouth a few times, the way a fish does before it dies. Aha! I grabbed a pen and paper, and handed it to him.

Sure enough, he started to write to me. He was from Canada and had been traveling for 4 months, recently coming from Egypt and now staying in Athens to gain permission to stay at Mount Athos. I am proficient at reading lips, and once I told him this, our conversation was much easier. He has been traveling the world for extended periods of time the last 15 years and has been to more places than I have even heard of!

I was immediately intrigued by his journey to Mount Athos, a place I dream of going, but am unable. Mount Athos is a peninsula, that is treated more like an island. It is a holy place, home to twenty monasteries and the monks who occupy them. Accessible only by boat, and only to men, you must obtain special permission from both the embassy and the monasteries you wish to visit on the mount. Once this has been granted, you may stay 4 days and live among the monks, like a monk. You observe the silent times, eat the food that is grown on the Mount, and must always respect the religion, even if you do not practice it.

This man, who I nicknamed “Ed”, visited Athos ten years ago and was granted permission by the monks to stay for a full month. This is a very rare occurrence, and reflected well of his personality. We spent the next few hours chatting about travel. He takes no pictures, he keeps no journal, he locks everything into his mind. When he closed his eyes and thought no one was looking I understood why- it was clear he had a reel of memories stored inside his mind- a movie always on demand.

That left me laying awake in bed last night wondering how much different my life would be if I were mute.
How much I’d have to work for everything I wanted to say.  I suppose we would all choose our words much more carefully…

And that wraps up reasons #235234 I love traveling. You never know who you will meet and how that will enrich your life.